Cannonball Read 11

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Renton

Bookseller, musician and bearded ghost in Nottingham, UK

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Renton's Reviews:

An interesting look at the seed behind To Kill a Mockingbird that tries to blend memoir, a love story and the political history of the south into one novel that doesn’t quite mesh together.

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

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It’s not often you get to peek inside the publishing industry and read a manuscript before major overhauling. The original scroll for On The Road, for example, is more rambling, explicit and lacking in punctuation than it’s fully published counterpart – but follows much of the same beats (no pun intended.) Go Set A Watchman is a whole other beast. The story is now a familiar one to anyone who has glimpsed at a newspaper in the last few months; a manuscript delivered in the mid-fifties had a spark of genius in it, an editor suggested to reframe and rewrite […]

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7/14/2015 's CBR7 Review No:10 |

Filled with unsettling thoughts but ultimately life-affirming, this is a strange and quirky novel about love, delusions and dependency from a unique voice.

The First Bad Man by Miranda July

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Miranda July is a defiantly ‘indie’ director. Her films are filled with odd juxtapositions and unusual dialogue, soundtracked by circuit-bent 80’s synths and filled with whimsical ideas. Following a unique collection of short stories, The First Bad Man is her debut novel, and one that lives up to her distinctive sensibilities. Cheryl is a neurotic middle-aged woman who lives by herself. She lives a quiet and rigid life with everything in its right place, and tries to avoid doing anything as it leaves less of a footprint – but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  She’s also in love […]

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7/14/2015 's CBR7 Review No:9 |

A dense and elaborate historical novel about fading beauty, peppered with intriguing anachronisms.

Viper Wine by Hermione Eyre

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Sir Kenelm Digby and Venetia Stanley were one of the most spoken-about couples of the 17th century. Sir Kenelm was a scientist, an alchemist and an adventurer, while his wife was known as the most beautiful woman at court. Copies of her portrait were passed about and her radiance was known for miles around, which has turned her from a witty young woman into a self-obsessed and beauty-hungry lady. Looking for ways to keep her beauty, Venetia starts to visit an apothecary who concocts a cure made from opium, pregnant horse urine, and, most importantly, snake venom. While initially successful, […]

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7/14/2015 's CBR7 Review No:8 |

A dark and witty novel about teenage alienation, strained relationships and the allure of the outlaw life.

We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler

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Piracy used to conjure up visions of rabid men roaming the dark seas, festooned with tattoos and covered in facial hair. Now it’s more likely to bring up images of overweight young men sitting in basements in front of glowing computer screens. From Blackbeard to Neckbeard, if you will. Lemony Snicket author Daniel Handler throws the older, vicious idea of the roving corsair into the modern day in this strange look at teenage angst and the life of an outsider. 14-year-old Gwen is angry. Angry at her parents, angry at the world, and angry at her own dull life. Caught […]

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7/14/2015 's CBR7 Review No:7 |

Kazuo Ishiguro reinvents himself again with this lyrical and moving novel about love, memories and society, all while skirting around the edge of fantasy.

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

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I hardly need to say this, but a new Ishiguro novel is a huge deal. It’s been over ten years since his last novel, with only a brilliant collection of short stories in-between to tide us over. The Buried Giant is set some time after the death of the great King Arthur, in the midst of the dark ages, and this strange cultural gap allows him to play with reality and legend in a fluid way. There is a peace of sorts between the two previously warring nations of the Britons and the Saxons, but it seems like things are […]

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4/5/2015 's CBR7 Review No:6 |

Mel Brooks famously said that “by using the medium of comedy, we can try to rob Hitler of his posthumous power and myths.” But what if someone could ride an ironic wave to the top?

Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes

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Making Hitler an object of fun is no new idea, as Chaplin’s famous The Great Dictator took pointed shots at the man while he was still alive, and 1967 saw the aforementioned Mel Brooks’ seminal The Producers, which not only gave Hitler a daft platform but an impressive singing voice. The glorious Monty Python team wrote and performed a sketch where Hitler hides behind the pseudonym Mr Hilter, and comedian Richard Herring performed a set about his attempts to reclaim the iconic moustache for the people. Oliver Hirschbiegel’s film Downfall showed Hitler’s ranting amidst the collapse of his regime and […]

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4/5/2015 's CBR7 Review No:5 |

An unusual and unreliable narrator leads this moving and inventive novel about dementia, the past and old age.

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

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Maud lives in a constant state of befuddlement. Undrunk cups of tea litter her halls; she navigates her way through life with little scraps of paper; she forgets what she’s doing sometimes; and her daughter seems permanently exasperated with her. At  82 years old and suffering with the beginning stages of dementia, she only has three real constants – that she could probably do with another slice of toast, that she’d quite like to know the best place to plant marrows, and that her best friend, Elizabeth is missing. No matter how often her daughter tells her not to worry, […]

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2/21/2015 's CBR7 Review No:4 |

A snapshot of a family unit in crisis, a peek behind the Ikea curtain and the idea of pristine Scandinavian life.

The Winter War by Philip Teir

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Max and Katriina Paul have been married for over thirty years and have settled into some semblance of a comfortable routine. Professor of sociology and one-time media darling on the subject of sex, Max, spends his evenings trawling forums looking for his name;  while his wife is entirely wrapped up in her work, filled with a fervent self-belief. Their daughters Helen and Eva couldn’t be more different; with Helen being quietly married with two children of her own, and Eva in-between careers, relationships and more besides. The novel starts with a frozen pet, and then takes us back to the […]

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2/21/2015 's CBR7 Review No:3 |


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